You Give A Little Love
by ElizabethAmy
Summary: Early Dharmaville times. Future Suliet/Past Skate.
1. Chapter 1

Despite having already lived on the island for three years, in these barracks even, Juliet agreed when Horace offered to show them all around.

"This here is the cafeteria, if ever you don't feeling like cooking," Horace announced proudly as he waved his hand in the direction of yet another generic looking Dharma building, "They do pretty good waffles, but if I were you, I'd stay away on hamburger day. They always seem to give me an upset stomach!"

Not knowing whether Horace was serious or telling a really lame joke, Juliet smiled at him nervously before looking round at James. They'd stopped walking for less than ten seconds and he'd already perched himself on a bench. He obviously wasn't listening to a word that Horace was saying and he seemed to be lost in a world of his own. James leaned forward on the bench so that his elbows were resting on his knees and he could cup his chin in his hands. He looked a mess; he hadn't had a shave for days and his hair was looking wildly out of control. He let out a big sigh before scowling and mumbling something to himself.

Ten days. It had been ten days since they arrived in Dharmaville and he had asked her to stay with him. When Juliet thought back to that moment on the dock, she felt every emotion under the sun. Relief, at finally getting an opportunity to get off this godforsaken island. Happiness, with the thought of seeing Rachel again. Disappointment, knowing that it was 1974 and that Rachel was only 6 years old. Frustration, knowing that there was nothing that she could do about it. Wanting to leave anyway. Determined to leave. And then James came along.

"What do you reckon, Blondie?" came a Southern drawl from somewhere to Juliet's left, "You joining us on the rest of this tour or not?"

Blinking and shaking her head to jolt her out of her day dream and back to present time, or 30-years-in-the-past time, or whatever they were calling it these days, Juliet looked over at where the voice had come from, only to find that her tour group had already started walking away from the cafeteria and over towards the houses.

As Daniel, Miles and Jin began to follow Horace up the familiar path to her old neighbourhood, James stood waiting for her.

"You're one to talk," she quipped, "Don't think I didn't notice you daydreaming too"

"At least I don't make it obvious in front of Mr Boss-man," He taunted back, "You're gonna get yourself stuck in a dead end job now, Jules!"

They joined the rest of their group over by the porch of the house that Juliet used to live in. How long had it been since she last slept in this house? Twenty three days. Twenty three days since she left the barracks and ten days since they arrived in Dharmaville. How is it possible that so much had happened since then?

"You're kidding me, right? This has to be a joke?" Miles sneered, while flailing his arms in front of him to exaggerate his disdain, "Women get their own house...all to themselves....but men all have to share in a dorm?"

"I think you'll find it's comfortable enough in the dorm house..." started Horace.

"...You have got to be kidding me. Jim, you listening to this? We all have to share. There better not be bunk beds or, I swear, I'm outta here!" Miles fumed.

"Tell you what, come have a look. Make your own mind up. If you don't like it, there's a sub leaving in a couple of days. We already promised you that we'd send the rest of your crew on if they ever show up. Come take a look."

As Horace, Miles and Jin started walking towards the biggest of the Dharma houses, Daniel stood rooted to the spot, staring into the distance at the small red headed girl playing on the swing set. Juliet's heart broke when she looked at him; she understood the pain of losing someone you love. She went towards him to put her hand on his shoulder, to let him know he wasn't alone, when she felt someone blocking her path.

"Don't." James stated simply.

"Why not? He's missing Charlotte, I just wanna let him know that it'll all be ok."

"You don't know that it'll all be ok. We know nothin'! For all we know, the flashes might not have stopped, we might be back in 2004 again tomorrow!"

"John obviously did it, he stopped the flashes and the time jumps and the nose bleeds. We might not be where we want to be, but we're alive. Isn't that something?" Juliet implored him to go back to the James on the dock, the one who assured her that staying was that right thing to do, that hope wasn't lost, that one day they might return to save them.

"I've gotta get my head around it all and Wacko over there, he's gotta do the same. I lost someone I love too."

Later that evening, Juliet was already settled into her new house. Pouring herself a glass of her favourite Merlot, she wandered over to the book case to see what the Dharma Initiative had to offer. All the classics, plus a couple more recent ones, albeit 1970's recent. Not bad, she thought, as she picked out a well worn copy of The Little Prince, a book she read repeatedly as a child. She remembered how her mother used to get her and Rachel tucked into their beds before reading them a chapter of the book to get them to sleep. Rachel always fell asleep within minutes, but Juliet had always found herself transported into the dream world of the little boy from another planet and his love of his rose that he kept so lovingly in a dome.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. Taking the old book with her, Juliet was surprised to find James, standing with his back to her, on the porch.

"You know you're supposed to be facing this way, right? I'm over here." Juliet smiled, as she jokingly waved her presence at him.

"You know, you don't always have to be such a wiseass," James snarled, as he turned around to face her. "I was just coming over to...."

He sighed and the anger immediately disappeared from his face. The sun had almost set, leaving everything seeped in an eerie gray light, despite the brilliant red colour of the sky. It was still hot out, but there was a slow, cool breeze which brought in the fragrance of the ocean air and of the flowers that were growing in the hanging baskets and flowerbeds around all the houses. His eyes rested on Juliet's copy of The Little Prince.

"...to see if I could borrow a book! All we've got over there is a pile of crappy old comics."

He stood there quietly, a slight smile on his face that showed a hint of his dimples, a smile that was supposed to count as an apology for his less than polite outburst when Juliet had first answered the door.

Without saying a word, Juliet opened the door fully before turning and walking towards her kitchen.

"Want some wine?" Juliet offered.

His smile became wider, the dimples more pronounced, as he stepped inside Juliet's house. He didn't need to nosey around, having already spent a brief amount of time living in the exact same house with Hurley. His heart sank when he remembered that Kate had been here too, they'd spent the night together and he'd wanted her to stay with him. But, as always, she'd freaked out and ran off to Jack the next morning. Everything reminded him of Kate. His smile had disappeared.

"You got any beer?"

"I don't know, I don't think so," Juliet shrugged, "I don't really drink beer."

"So, what you doing reading a kids' book?" James said calmly, as he went to open the refrigerator to check for himself, "Aren't you a little old for that? And why don't you have any beer? I don't trust people who don't like beer...I don't like 'em and I don't trust 'em."

He had no idea why he was being so mean to her, but he couldn't find himself able to stop. He didn't think that really; he did like her and he certainly trusted her. In fact, the more time he'd spent with Juliet, the more he realized how lucky he was that she had his back. He'd actually decided to check in on Juliet to see how she was doing, whether she needed someone to tell her it'll all be alright; whether her earlier attempt to comfort Daniel was a desire for comfort from someone for herself. But the memories of Kate, of having Kate and of losing Kate, were too strong, too recent and too raw. He had once asked her to stay with him and she had refused. Yet here he was, with Juliet, a woman he had asked to stay with him. And she said that she would.


	2. Chapter 2

And It All Comes Back To You

According to everyone they spoke to, they were experiencing the hottest summer on record. The temperature during the day always hit over 110 degrees, while at night it lingered at around 85. The grass was burnt to a yellow-brown colour and, no matter how much the gardeners watered them, the flowerbeds around the barracks were reduced to limp dying plants. Heat evaporated off the tarmac paths, there seemed to be no shade no matter where you went and, typically, James was having a bitch of a day.

"You _thought_ you saw someone in the jungle?" James questioned the other men in his security team, who had been ordered to help him on his quest to find the other members of his crew. Most of them didn't look very pleased about that, but James didn't care; if his people were out there, he was determined to find them no matter what.

"...Maybe. We just...I don't know, Jim....It might have been a Hostile...It might have been just...something else..." stammered one of the Dharma workers that James hadn't fully gotten to know yet. Phil Something-or-other.

"Somethin' else?" sighed James.

Phil looked around at the other men for help. Miles shrugged before looking away, keen to stay out of an argument with James. Jerry was rooting around in his backpack for a bottle of water. Jin, whose English had already greatly improved during the four months they had spent living with the Dharma Initiative, simply stated, "It's the heat. It's too hot for us to be out here in the jungle."

Resigning to the fact that he wasn't going to get any more work out of them today, James picked up his backpack before roughly slinging it onto his left shoulder and headed back to the van. He screwed up his brows in a desperate attempt to shield his eyes from the harsh glare of the sun. He didn't think he had ever been so hot in his life, and all he wanted to do was get back to his house and take a long cold shower, followed by an ice cold beer. Bliss. He had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind that he was forgetting something, but as they drove up to the motor pool to drop off the van, his eyes focused on his house, the air-con and the refrigerated beer. Like a blinkered horse, he focused on nothing but the house, practically flying up the path as fast as the gruelling heat would allow him, to get to the haven within.

Juliet was sat with her back pressed against the wall of the motor pool with her hands on her head, trying to hold her long hair up off her neck, her attempt to keep herself cool failing miserably. She could feel her pale skin burning and she wanted nothing more than to hide inside, away from the scorching sun and preferably in front of an air-con with an ice cream cone in her hand. Perfect. She spotted the blue Dharma van slowly making its way from the other side of the valley, winding roughly along the bumpy road. James was so determined to keep searching, he'd told her that pretty much every day since they had arrived there. They liked to talk a lot.

Some days they'd discuss the small things – favourite movie, favourite book, favourite candy bar. At other times they ventured into more sensitive territory. How James felt to lose his parents. How Juliet felt when her parents divorced and her dad moved away to another state. James knowing he had a daughter somewhere out there. Juliet knowing she had a sister and a nephew somewhere out there. James killing Anthony Cooper. Juliet killing Pickett. They found it easy to talk to one another and had a great deal more in common than they both initially expected. She hadn't yet told him about being kept on the island by Ben until she solved the fertility problem, although she imagined that some day they would be having that conversation. James still hadn't opened up to her regarding his feelings for Kate. If he still loved her. Or not.

The van pulled into the motor pool and five of the men from the security team stepped out looking exhausted; they'd been searching all day in this intolerable heat. James is coming over for dinner tonight, Juliet reminded herself, making a mental note to go get him some beers from the store room when she finished work. She expected him to look over at her and wave, like he usually did when he walked past the garage, but instead he didn't even look over in her direction. Shrugging, Juliet had a final sip of her bottle of water before standing up and getting back to work.

"I don't know what to say." James said, holding up a single flower and his face, which he had obviously sunburnt at some point during the day, was forced into a smile. He was attempting to look adorably cute. Only, his eyes betrayed him and they revealed his true need to be forgiven.

"That for me?" Juliet replied wryly, her face expressionless.

Knowing that flashing his trademark dimples worked like a charm on every woman he'd met EXCEPT Juliet, he held the flower a little higher but kept his gaze firmly focused on her. Honesty. Juliet respected honesty, he told himself, there's no point in lying to her. She could read him like a book anyway.

"I remembered that I'd forgotten somethin', but I couldn't remember what it was that I'd forgotten...and we had some beers, cranked up the aircon....I just plain forgot, I'm sorry." James said apologetically, as good as throwing the already droopy flower into Juliet's hand.

"You're over two hours late for dinner and you bring me a wilting flower to say sorry?" Juliet asked sternly. They stared at each other for a few seconds before a huge smile broke across Juliet's face and she leaned forward, slightly touching James on the arm, "Just don't let it happen again!"

"What's for dinner, honey?" asked James as he stumbled into Juliet's house. The combination of all the alcohol he had consumed that evening and the unbearable heat finally started to affect his senses, making him unsteady on his feet. Not missing a beat, Juliet firmly wrapped her arm around his waist and helped to guide him onto the couch where he slumped heavily onto it, pulling her down with him.

"I ate my dinner two hours ago James. And you're drunk."

"Me? Drunk?! No! Never!" chuckled James, keeping his hand spread across Juliet's lower back, "I am not! Just a few beers.....You have pretty hair."

Juliet laughed, "And now I know for sure that you're drunk!"

"I mean it, Buttercup," he said dreamily while twirling a section of her hair around his finger, "You're excellent with a gun and now you fix cars too! Is there anything you can't do?"

"I can't get you to show up on time!" giggled Juliet, as she lightly slapped him on the chest. Their blue eyes met and their faces were only inches apart. Their gazes held only for a second before both of them looked away. Juliet stifled her laugh nervously, but noticed that James was gently rubbing her back with his thumb. It surprised Juliet how much she enjoyed this simple comforting touch. It surprised James how normal it seemed to be this content with her.

They sat like that in serene silence for at least a minute before he whispered, more to himself than to Juliet, "I think I'm over her."


End file.
